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Billy Mays, Well-Known TV Pitchman, Dead at 50
Girl Dies by Electrocution While Twitting in Bathtub, Apocalypse Draws Nearer
RIP Microsoft Encarta, 1993-2009
Tragic Death Reminds Us To Lock Down Our Washing Machines And Other Large Gadgets

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bikehorn86
10/08/09

In reply to Girl Dies by Electrocution While Twitting in Bathtub, Apocalypse Draws Nearer
Maybe you have a chip on your shoulder about Twitter users(personally I hate Twitter) but as an electrician I can't help pointing out weak electrical safety. If they had ground fault circuit interrupters as mandatory equipment in Romania, she would have survived and maybe not even felt much of a shock before the power was cut. Granted, handling live electrical equipment while immersed in water is Darwin award material, but her death could have been prevented if the exact same incident had occurred where GFCIs are mandatory such as Canada where we have some of the toughest electrical safety rules. In the UK these are called RCDs or residual current devices. Basically they work by detecting if power is going somewhere it shouldn't....normally it goes out of the black(active/hot) wire and back through the white(neutral). If 99 electrons go out but only 93 come back, that means six leaked somewhere and maybe did so through a person into the ground - while shocking them. If it senses this condition the power will immediately be cut before a fatality can occur.

I've heard of a lot of deaths like this occurring in India not due to people twittering in the tub but due to people using immersion water heaters to warm up water before bathing. These are extremely unsafe ungrounded devices and even if they have got the ground pin many people just break the ground pin off to make it fit an old outlet or worse, the ground/bond connection is broken somewhere in the wall. Now imagine you've got a live electrode in the water with no safety ground and no GFCI protection, and you stick your hand in to check the temperature while standing on a wet floor...Zapppppp, you'll never know if it was hot enough because you'll be dead.
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OrbitalGun approved this comment bikehorn86 was starred bikehorn86 was unstarred

Jrsy Devil's Advocate®
06/28/09

In reply to Billy Mays, Well-Known TV Pitchman, Dead at 50
Did anyone see the last episode of Pitchmen??

When that idiot came out with the iTie they should have cock punched him. He puts and 'i' in front of the word tie and thinks it's fashion gold. He's invested 30K into it and wants to market it for 70 dollars!!??!! I'll stick with a tie clip for the fraction of the price. It works with all the ties I already own and doesn't require me to upgrade my neckwear..
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Jrsy Devil's Advocate®
06/28/09

In reply to Billy Mays, Well-Known TV Pitchman, Dead at 50
I hope it doesn't turn out that the luggage hitting him in the head is the cause of death. That would be an unbefitting way to go for someone larger than life.

On the other hand someone may now be inspired to design some gadget to keep luggage secured in overhead compartments, even during rough landings..

Oh and US Airways, you're name may end up being Billy Mays Airways after the lawsuit and trial...
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Jrsy Devil's Advocate®
06/28/09

In reply to Billy Mays, Well-Known TV Pitchman, Dead at 50
It's the Discovery channel curse. First Tim Roberts from the show 'Wing Nuts' dies, now Billy..

Adam & Jamie better be more careful..
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lucidlyseen
06/28/09

In reply to Billy Mays, Well-Known TV Pitchman, Dead at 50
wow, this really is a shock! They say it comes in 3's well I guess this is the third...
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irfan
06/28/09

@lucidlyseen: ed mcmahon, MJ, farah fawcett, billy mays.... unless im counting wrong thats 4
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irfan was starred irfan was unstarred

Jrsy Devil's Advocate®
06/28/09

@irfan: Uhm, David Carradine....

How soon they forget.
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lucky_you
06/28/09

In reply to Billy Mays, Well-Known TV Pitchman, Dead at 50
They always go in three's
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lucky_you was starred lucky_you was unstarred

Jrsy Devil's Advocate®
06/28/09

@lucky_you: I think we're up to 7 now over the past couple of weeks.
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Jrsy Devil's Advocate®
06/29/09

@Jrsy Devil's Food Cake®: Or actually make that months..
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GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
06/28/09

In reply to Billy Mays, Well-Known TV Pitchman, Dead at 50
Watch it turns out that Vince ground up Sham-Wows, and sprinkled it in Billy's food to dehydrate him from the inside.

But seriously, Billy was a guy who embraced his celebrity, and even had fun with it at times, which is rare. He was also a good family man. My thoughts and prayers are with his family. Later, I'm doing a 21 Oxy-Clean Scoop Salute while doing my laundry.
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olternaut
06/28/09

In reply to Billy Mays, Well-Known TV Pitchman, Dead at 50
Not Billy Mays! :(

I don't believe this! What the heck is happening this week huh? Wow. Anthony Sullivan must be devastated. I also am a fan of pitchmen. It's the best new reality show to come about for a while. Now suddenly its over.

Wow just.....wow. :(

Billy Mays was the best pitchman ever by the way.
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GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
06/28/09

@olternaut: Well, hopefully Discovery will not pull the rest of the series. THAT would be a true shame.
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The Most Interesting Man In the World
06/28/09

In reply to Billy Mays, Well-Known TV Pitchman, Dead at 50
Billy Mays orders breakfast:

[www.collegehumor.com]
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GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
06/28/09

@The Most Interesting Man In the World:
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Darkest Daze
06/28/09

@TouchedByAnAngel_GitEmSteveDav...: That's it, I'm sold on McDonalds...where do I call and is shipping included?
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GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
06/28/09

@Darkest Daze: @MarlinsGirl: It's the same reason I think Sam Waterstone is great for his Old Glory Robot insurance commercials. Your a celbrity, have fun with it and enjoy yourself.
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Toastie
06/28/09

In reply to Billy Mays, Well-Known TV Pitchman, Dead at 50
Wow, lots of celebrity deaths this week huh?
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Toastie was starred Toastie was unstarred

Jrsy Devil's Advocate®
06/28/09

@Toastie: Maybe you should have said, "lot's of As Seen On TV deaths this week.'
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macpatrik
06/28/09

In reply to Billy Mays, Well-Known TV Pitchman, Dead at 50
Why not Sham WoW guy? Why!?
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Jrsy Devil's Advocate®
06/28/09

@MacPatrick: Because he's not 50 yet..
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Sugartits
06/28/09

In reply to Billy Mays, Well-Known TV Pitchman, Dead at 50
WHY DOES EVERYONE KEEP DYING!?

And at 50!?

:'(

I'm checking out for the rest of he week, fuck this world.
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Sugartits was starred Sugartits was unstarred

Hiphopopotamus
06/28/09

@Sugartits: 50 is the new 80. 40 is the new 30. 41-49? Doing some crazy shit with the space-time continuum.
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Jrsy Devil's Advocate®
06/28/09

@Hiphopopotamus: "Doing some crazy shit with the space-time continuum."

I blame it on the LHC...
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PlayerX
06/28/09

@Sugartits: I was in Cuba for a week, and I got back and everyone died... don't do it, man! It's scary when you get back!
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PlayerX was starred PlayerX was unstarred

Jrsy Devil's Advocate®
06/28/09

@PlayerX: Is Castro still alive or a Zombie?
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atlasfugged
06/29/09

@Jrsy Devil's Food Cake®: But, it broken down before it could do any damage, or anything at all.
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Jrsy Devil's Advocate®
06/29/09

@atlasfugged: " But, it broken down before it could do any damage, or anything at all."

Yeah, but how do we know that? There could have been an event so catastrophic to the space-time continuum that it gave us all amnesia to allow for the Universe to correct for any paradoxes....
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JeffCoe
06/28/09

In reply to Billy Mays, Well-Known TV Pitchman, Dead at 50
what the hell.. the world is coming to an end.
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JeffCoe was starred JeffCoe was unstarred

Cordfucious of Tech Clan
06/28/09

@JeffCoe: No but infomercials are on some serious notice
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mynamesafad
06/19/09

In reply to Girl Dies by Electrocution While Twitting in Bathtub, Apocalypse Draws Nearer
I wonder what she said on her twitter?
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mynamesafad was starred mynamesafad was unstarred

.357
06/19/09

@mynamesafad:

Plugging in the laptop

AHHHHHHHHHH

....
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.357 was starred .357 was unstarred

KeNNeYg
06/19/09

In reply to Girl Dies by Electrocution While Twitting in Bathtub, Apocalypse Draws Nearer
Reminds me of that guy James Bond Killed by throwing a toaster at him while he was taking a bath.
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KeNNeYg was starred KeNNeYg was unstarred

Jrsy Devil's Advocate®
06/19/09

@KeNNeYg: "Shocking"
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Him
06/19/09

@Jrsy Devil's Food Cake®: Wow, and I thought I was the only one who watched James Bond from the 60's.
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Him was starred Him was unstarred

something_unique_and_descriptive
06/20/09

@Zander: No, those are the good ones, back when the franchise didn't take itself too seriously.

These last few might as well just be generic action movies.
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Him
07/10/09

@something_unique_and_descripti...: Yeah, but Pierce Brosnan did a fairly good job of it too.
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Him was starred Him was unstarred

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Billy Mays, Well-Known TV Pitchman, Dead at 50

Girl Dies by Electrocution While Twitting in Bathtub, Apocalypse Draws Nearer

RIP Microsoft Encarta, 1993-2009

Tragic Death Reminds Us To Lock Down Our Washing Machines And Other Large Gadgets

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